Rep. Haley Stevens, D-Mich., is facing calls from within her own party to be removed from the House Democratic Caucus after she endorsed Republican Mike Rogers in Michigan’s U.S. Senate race just two days before Tuesday’s election, rather than backing Democratic nominee Abdul El-Sayed.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., said the caucus will decide how to respond once lawmakers return to Washington, but did not say when that would be. “Haley Stevens made a terrible decision, blindsided everyone and isolated herself from the House Democratic caucus. We will have a discussion about appropriate next steps upon our return,” Jeffries told POLITICO.
A senior Democratic aide told Fox News Digital that House Democratic Caucus Chairman Pete Aguilar, D-Calif., would likely back whatever course Jeffries chooses to take.
A relationship that had already frayed
Stevens, a four-term congresswoman representing Michigan, is not seeking re-election after narrowly losing the state’s Democratic Senate primary to El-Sayed, a former public health official. In the months since, she had offered only tepid support for his campaign while criticizing his handling of outreach to Jewish and Black voters and his positions on Israel.
That uneasy truce broke down over the weekend. El-Sayed’s campaign publicly asked Stevens to stay away from his events, even after she had said she would join him and Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., at a church service meant to mobilize Black voters. Stevens instead appeared at a different church alongside Rogers and his wife, then endorsed Rogers on Nov. 1.
Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Mich., said on CNN that Stevens had told her “multiple times” over the weekend that she would not endorse Rogers. “I don’t know what changed between late Saturday and Sunday morning,” Dingell said in a separate CNN appearance Monday.
Party fallout
The Michigan Democratic Party has already cut ties with Stevens. State party chairman Curtis Hertel wrote on X that she
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